2014 WESTAF Cohort
Brian Carter, Washington
Luis Escareño, California
Nurieh Zarrin Glasgow She/Her/Hers, Casper, Wyoming
Playwright
Nurieh Zarrin Glasgow works on the integration of mental health and the arts. She values building meaningful connections and trust with all clients and believes in creating strong bonds within families and communities. She also believes in the innate ability for all of us to discover our purpose in life and create awareness of our own internal strengths and resources. She particularly enjoys working with children, parents, and groups, especially people of color. She is also a playwright and National Board Certified Counselor Fellow of Color. Glasgow holds a master’s degree in mental health counseling and in public administration from the University of Wyoming, and a bachelor’s degree in theatre from Mills College in Oakland, California. She also earned a graduate certificate in Play Therapy and is trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).
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Skills & Interests: Playwriting, piano, Martin Luther King Day of Service and Remembrance, mother of two!
Joshua Heim He/Him/His, Woodenville, Washington
Deputy Director | King County 4Culture
Joshua Heim believes that culture is the original basic need and has spent his career building pathways for the arts to impact communities and civic priorities. He currently serves as deputy director at King County 4Culture, where he leads long-range planning, strategy, and community partnerships and heads up the agency’s COVID 19 response and new cultural education initiative. Previously, he led local arts agencies at the cities of Bellevue and Redmond in Washington, where he integrated the arts with community and economic development, urban planning and design, and equity, diversity, and inclusion. Before getting involved in local government, Heim was a museum professional advancing race and social justice at the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle and the Hawaiian Language Legacy Project in Honolulu. In his spare time, Heim teaches community engagement in the Museum Studies Professional Certificate Program at the University of Washington Continuum College.
Follow: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshheim/
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Marla Love She/Her/Hers, Salt Lake City, Utah
Founder and Director | Art First Arte Primero
Marla Love is founder and director of Art First Arte Primero. Love is the mother of Naeemah and Jaseena, who were very much the inspiration for her to establish a fine art studio for children. She teaches Art First on Zoom, Live on Facebook, and conducts art workshops at the fine art studio in Sugarhouse, Utah. Love also celebrates Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, in various events and festivals. Among the goals for her work at Art First is that children find their “creative eyes,” to see their world through the eyes of an artist. Participants in her classes and art projects explore various artists, art themes, and art techniques. Love believes it is important for Art First to honor the culture, traditions, and language in the process of learning about the artists, where the artist was born, and their journey. Love is honored to work with children in the arts.
Follow: www.arteprimero.com
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Skills & Interests: Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos.
Nikiko Masumoto, Fresno, California
Organic Farmer and Artist
Ashanti McGee, Arizona
District Representative | U.S. Representative Susie Lee
Yvonne Montoya She/Her/Hers, Tucson, Arizona
Founding Director | Safos Dance Theatre
Yvonne Montoya is a mother, dancemaker, international artist, consultant, independent dance scholar, and the founding director of Safos Dance Theatre, based in Tucson, Arizona. Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Montoya is a process-based dancemaker who creates low-tech, site-specific, and site-adaptive pieces for non-traditional dance spaces. Her work is grounded in and inspired by the landscapes, languages, cultures, and aesthetics of the U.S. Southwest. Montoya is the lead choreographer for Safos. Under her direction, the company won the Tucson Pima Arts Council’s Lumie Award for Emerging Organizations in 2015. She based Stories from Home, a series of movement vignettes, on her family’s oral histories. In 2017-2018, Montoya was a post-graduate fellow in dance at Arizona State University, where she founded and organized the inaugural Dance in the Desert: A Gathering of Latinx Dancemakers. Montoya is a 2019-2020 Kennedy Center Citizen Artist fellow, a 2019-2020 Dance/USA Artist fellow, and a recipient of the 2019 National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Pod grant. She is a member of Las Fronterizas, an intergenerational and international ensemble of women-identified artists that creates multidisciplinary art projects across geopolitical borders. She also continues to work as a thought leader and collaborator on Dance in the Desert.
Follow: www.yvonnemontoya.co, @mpaproject1
Affiliations: Stories from Home, director; Dance in the Desert, founder, co-director; Safos Dance Theatre, founding director; Las Fronterizas, co-founder; Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow 2019; Dance/USA Artist Fellow 2019
Skills & Interests: A published dance scholar: Who Takes Center Stage?: Xicana Epistemologies in Contemporary Dance. El Mundo Zurdo 7: Selected Works from the 2018 Meeting of the Society for the Study of Gloria Anzaldúa. 2019; 95-108. Aunt Lute Books. Workshops for arts organizations: “What is Culture?” and “Cultural Competency: A Step Towards Equity.”
Leta Harris Neustaedter She/Her/Hers, Boise, Idaho
PositionArts Educator and Founder | Metamorphosis Performing Arts Studio
Leta Harris Neustaedter is the founder of Metamorphosis Performing Arts Studio, where she is an arts educator and clinical social worker. She teaches private voice/acting lessons and develops arts curriculum to teach in the schools. She also performs as an actor and musician. She is a Certified Change Leader through the Idaho Commission of the Arts, a member of the Mayor’s Equitable and Safe Community Committee, and a Tribute to Women and Industry (TWIN) award recipient. She was featured in a “Local Heroes” article in Greenbelt Magazine for her work in activism and the arts, and was the featured alum in the 2020 Boise State University Digest.
Follow: Www.metamorphosisstudio.org
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Skills & Interests: I love to hike in the foothills with my dog. It is where I feel most spiritual and grounded.
Brandy Reitter, Eagle, Colorado
Town Manager | Eagle, Colorado
Denver native Brandy Reitter is the Town Manager for Eagle, Colorado and has 15 years of experience working in city management to build communities and improve economic vitality. She started her career in economic development working for the City and County of Denver and the District of Columbia in Washington, DC. Prior to Eagle, she was the Town Administrator for Buena Vista and supported art, events, and music in the Arkansas River Valley as an economic driver. She has served in various leadership roles that have helped communities accomplish Space to Create artist work live projects, art in public places, Creative Districts, downtown revitalization, and affordable housing. Having participated in WESTAF’s Emerging Leaders of Colorado in 2014, Reitter started her journey as an arts and humanities advocate at the state and federal level. In addition to her experiences in municipal government, Reitter received a master’s in public administration from the University of Colorado Denver’s School of Public Affairs in 2008. Brandy also serves on the Board of Directors for Downtown Colorado, Inc. and was appointed by Governor John Hickenlooper to serve on the Colorado Creative Industries Council. In her free time, Reitter enjoys the outdoors and likes to travel.
Moriah Sallaffie, Nome, Alaska
Cultural Center Development Coordinator | Kawerak Inc.
Saniego Sanchez
MA Candidate | Applied Anthropology with focus in Design and Urban Anthropology
Lehua Simon, Honolulu County, Hawai'i
Multimedia Artist & Social Entrepreneur
Regina Still Smoking, Montana
Gabrielle Uballez She/Her/Hers, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Co-facilitator | New Mexico Women of Color Nonprofit Leadership Initiative, Santa Fe Community Foundation
Gabrielle Uballez is a strategist, educator, and facilitator who is called to work that centers on creativity, justice, and collaboration. She works across sectors with individual artists, grassroots organizations, anchor institutions, foundations, and philanthropists. She is a co-facilitator of the New Mexico Women of Color Nonprofit Leadership Initiative at the Santa Fe Community Foundation. She has facilitated strategy and alignment for New Mexico grantmakers toward inclusive wealth building for the New Mexico Asset Funders Network and has gained extensive leadership experience through nonprofit board and municipal committee service. She has served on national task forces and panels, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, and as the chairperson for the City of Albuquerque Urban Enhancement Trust Fund. Uballez earned her bachelor’s degree from Pomona College, a certificate from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders, and is a 2016 graduate of the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture Leadership Institute. She lives and works in downtown Albuquerque in a 100-year-old home with her husband and their two Chinese-Chicanx children.
Follow: www.gabrielleuballez.com
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Skills & Interests: I’m an avid home cook who loves hosting big meals for friends.